Archive | January, 2015

In line with the Department’s mandate to be the lead agency to uphold the best interest and welfare of the children and women to include those who are victims of trafficking in Persons and Child Pornography, a roll out training is being conducted.

The three –day training is participated in by selected Provincial/City/Municipal Social Welfare and Development Officers, and Police Officers (CIDG) within the region.

The said training aims to provide the participants a venue to review the salient features and provisions of RA 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012 and RA 9775 otherwise known as the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, review their roles and responsibilities of partners from the Local Government Units, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

This forum also serves as the proper venue to identify issues and concerns to strengthen the implementation of Republic Act 10364 and RA 9775. Within the duration of the three –day activity, they are also expected to formulate their respective Action Plan on the Recovery and Reintegration Program of Trafficked Persons.

In her discussion on RA 10364 and RA 9775, Atty. Ruby T. Malanog, of the Regional State Prosecutor’s Office, reminded the participants of their crucial role in handling the cases of victim survivors of trafficking specially among women and children.

Participants were also encouraged to continuously be involved in helping victims of trafficking and to report cases especially in the Local Government Units’ level, as there may be unreported cases in which victim survivors may be deprived of the programs and services they can avail.

Lanao del Norte — “Our involvement and commitment to the community-driven development brings reconciliation and peace”, says 47-year old Inorac S. Dibaratun of Matungao, this province.

Inorac , a Maranao and the Municipal Planning Development Officer of Matungao Lanao del Norte has been an active community volunteer in Barangay Tugar during his high school days till he graduated from college in 1989. Religious and devoted, he believes that camaraderie and team work can bring peace and development in their community.
Before he became one of the volunteers of KC-PAMANA , he was then a good friend of his barangay chairman, who happens to be his youthful playmates. They had the same common goal in life which is to bring peace and development in their community while they were still studying in school. He graduated from college and became an engineer and eventually appointed as the Municipal Planning Development Officer, his good friend was then elected as Barangay Chairman.
“Natingala jud mi karon, sa dihang nahimo na silang duha nga mga professional, isip isa ka MPDO ug isa ka Kapitan. Nausab na ilang panag-higala-ay, lahi rajud sa una nga mga estudyante pa sila ug isa pa sila sa atong mga batan-ong lider nga adunay gyod silay suod nga relasyon (we were really wondering, after they both became professionals, one is our MPDO and the other is our Barangay Chairman.it is now totally different compared when they were students and youth leaders, when they used to have a close relationship),” according to Rogelio Canillo one of the volunteers.
The two started their conflict when Inorac became the MPDO, where he was so dedicated to his job to the point he criticized and questioned the project implemented by his friend Barangay Chairman. Because of this, their friendship was affected, although he took it professionally but his friend can’t accept it, so they became worst enemies. “There were times he harassed me and make trouble or chaos to our community that every citizen feels distress”, Inorac shared.
It was in 2013, Inorac volunteered to assist in the implementation of Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services –(KALAHI CIDSS-PAMANA) in their community. KALAHI CIDSS- is a flagship anti-poverty program of the national government that empowers communities to be involved in development through community-driven development approach (CDD).
Trait of a leader

As a MPDO, he finds it easy to encourage his neighbors to volunteer for the Program. “They already observed my vision, mission and principles in life, which is to bring peace and sustainable development,” he says.
“Siya jud nagpadasig kanamo nga mga volunteer sa KALAHI-CIDSS kay nakita namo iyang commitment ug dedikasyon sa programa (he is the one who inspire us to volunteer in KALAHI-CIDSS because we feel his commitment and dedication to the program),” according to Ailene Dagoc one of the volunteers.

Instrument for change

Through his compassion, concern and commitment to persuade other volunteers, he never stop visiting all barangays and shared the goals of KALAHI CIDSS- PAMANA until it opened the eyes and heart of every citizen including his long lost friend who was encouraged by what he saw with his good friend for being a model and a good shepherd to the community. “He reassured volunteers not to lose hope in surpassing poverty thru unity and solidarity”, says Guadalupe a fellow volunteer.

A different perspective

KALAHI CIDSS-PAMANA through the Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach has a positive impact to the people’s perception towards government projects “Sa tinoud lang daghan nami’g mga proyekto gikan sa gobyerno kaso lang puro saad ug pagsugod ra taman walay nahuman, pero sa dihang gisulod na ang kalahi-cidds pamana nausab jud ang panglantaw sa maga tao kay nakita jud namo ang kala-inan sa konsepto sa programa, nga kami jud ang nagbuhat sa plano ug kami pud nag implementar sa proyekto ug tungod ani nausab among mga panglantaw labi na sa uban tao nga ilang huna-huna pakigbatok lang sa gobyerno ug labi na gyud akong amigo nga si kapitan nga dati against jud sya sa mga programa sa gobyerno pero karon tungod sa kc-pamana nausab ilang panglantaw kay nakita man gyud nila kung unsa jud ang pamaagi sa kc-pamana ug tungod ani na balik among pagka amigo ug mao kini ang hinungdan nga sucesful among implementasyon sa pamana sa among community, sama sa water system ug farm to market road nga diin daghan kanamo ang naka benipesyo. (the truth is there were a lot of government projects introduced before but, were never fully implemented and were only good at the start. When KC-PAMANA was introduced in our municipality, people changed their perspective because we saw the difference compared to other projects, considering that we are involved from the planning, decision-making, and the implementation process like we plan, we decide and we implement. Because of this concept, our views before have shifted. My neighbors and my old friend Barangay Chairman used to be negative against the government but eventually, we realized the goals of KC-PAMANA which is for the good of people such as the water system and farm to market road, where a lot of us benefited. With this, our friendship was reconciled which was essential for the successful implementation of the project and it is the key of success in the implementation of the project,” Inorac says.” “Dahil sa aming pagkakaisa at respeto sa bawat isa kaya namin maabot ang kayapa-an at Kaunlaran” he added.

Cagayan de Oro – The Department of Social Welfare and Development Northern Mindanao recently conducted the assessment and 2015 strategic planning of Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services – Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan (KALAHI CIDSS-PAMANA). The KC-PAMANA is a flagship anti-poverty program of the national government that empowers conflict communities to be involved in development through community-driven development approach (CDD) with support from the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

The activity aims to discuss and evaluate unaccomplished targets of 2014 that need to be addressed this year by strategizing the work plans and enhancing as well as synchronizing the activities of the remaining months of the implementation.

In the opening program, DSWD Regional Office X Assistant Regional Director for Operation Aldersey M. de la Cruz, shared her message with the emphasis on the encouragement to all KC-PAMANA Area Coordinators to do their job efficiently and effectively in order to deliver the best public service to the PAMANA areas.

To date, KC-PAMANA will be implemented in pilot municipalities/areas in the province of Lanao del Norte which are Kauswagan, Matungao, Poona Piagapo, Tangcal, Tagoloan, Pantao Ragat, Salvador and Magsaysay.

The KC-PAMANA program is anchored on Empowering Communities by giving poorest barangays access to and control of key development decisions and resources through community mobilization techniques; Improving Local Governance by ensuring that transparency; accountability and community participation are either installed or revitalized in the barangay and municipal government structures; and Reducing Poverty by giving funds for barangay projects (public goods, community enterprise, and human resource development) which improves access to basic services and increases productivity in the communities.

Listahanan or the National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development will be conducting the Second Round Assessment within the first quarter of this year to qualify more poor families to social protection programs, consistent with Executive Order 867 issued to the Department recently.

Listahanan or NHTS-PR is an information management system that identifies who and where the poor are nationwide. The system makes available to national government agencies and other social protection stakeholders a database of poor families as their basis in identifying potential beneficiaries for their various programs and services.

The 1st round of assessment was conducted in 2009 and as per EO 867, updating of the Listahanan database of poor families shall be done every four(4) years thereafter.

In Northern Mindanao, the target number of households to be assessed is 793,989 out of the nationwide target of 15.3 million households in all rural and urban areas.

For DSWD, the Listahanan database was used in identifying beneficiaries for the Agency’s core programs which includes the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program, the Sustainable Livelihood Program, the Supplemental Feeding program, and the KALAHI-CIDSS National Community Driven Development Program , among others.

Regional Director Atty. Araceli F. Solamillo, emphasized that the assessment of households will not guarantee their automatic inclusion for the various programs particularly the Pantawid Pamily Pilipino Program as there are also conditions and basis for each program as to who will be chosen as the direct beneficiaries .

A total of 2, 505 field workers comprising Area Coordinators, Area Supervisors, Enumerators, Encoders and Verifiers will be hired for the conduct of the said assessment.

The Human Resource Unit of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Northern Mindanao has conducted series of review classes for workers who will take the Career Service Professional Examination of the Civil Service Commission.

The mini-review classes aim to further strengthen the staff’s standing by becoming civil service eligible.

To ensure that more poor households will be able to benefit from social welfare and development programs and services, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, in response to one of its strategic goals, will increase the number of poor households identified in the database of Listahanan, an information management system that the government uses to identify who and where the poor households are nationwide, so that they will able to enjoy more benefits from social protection programs provided by various government entities, non-government organizations, and civil society groups.

Based on its latest data released last December 2014, Listahanan, known before as National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR), shows that 286,318 Pantawid beneficiary households and 22,111 non-Pantawid beneficiary households have availed and benefited two or more programs from the Department and other partner stakeholders.
A name matching was recently conducted to ensure an accurate data of who among the identified poor households have availed of the various programs and services implemented in Northern Mindanao .

The system makes available to National Government Agencies (NGAs) and other social protection stakeholders a database of poor families as basis in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs and services.

In Northern Midanao, as per the 1st round household assessment conducted in 2009, out of the 691,689 households assessed in the 5 provinces comprising 13 congressional districts , 9 cities and 84 municipalities , 338,749 were identified as poor.

With the Listahanan database, it aims to deliver basic programs and services to those who need them the most.
In Northern Mindanao, 78 local government units and four provincial local government units including civil society organizations have engaged with the Department of Social Welfare and Development through a Memorandum of Agreement pledging for their commitment to utilize the Listahanan database in the implementation of their various programs and services.
With the upcoming second round assessment, it is hoped that more poor households needing the most of the programs and services will be served.